Dive 345 – Williamstown Beach

By pfuller

Aug

25

Dive Number: 345 25/08/12 15.31, Horse Beach – 13th Beach

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: ???

Visibilty: 3m

Water Temp: 10.4

Bottom Time: 65minutes

Max Depth: 4.7m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: It was miserable day…howling north westerlies, with a strong wind chill factor. But every day is a good day for diving..you just have to find the right spot. I went down to St Leonards, but there were waves against the shoreline causing peasoup conditions, so i thought it was good opportunity to work the north west corner of Port Phillip Bay and headed up to Williamstown. The BSAC crew were there, and i headed out with Hui and found a few nudi’s in the bleak waters off Williamstown Beach.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobe

Photos:

Dive 344 – 13th Beach – Horse Beach 40W

By pfuller

Aug

23

Dive Number: 344 23/08/12 10.58, Horse Beach – 13th Beach

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: ???

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: 12.0c

Bottom Time: 86minutes

Max Depth: 6.6m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: I’d dived this area once before and it was OK so i thought i’d try a new section. Not alot out deep, but in shallow was some very colorful kelp garden areas. One section had a big cloud of weed swirling in an eddy created by the swell over the reef..it was a bit entrancing. On the way in i tried shooting some waves as they passed over.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobe

Photos:

Dive 343 – Blairgowrie Pier

By pfuller

Aug

19

Dive Number: 343 19/08/12 ??.??, Blairgowrie Pier

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: ???

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: 10.8c

Bottom Time: 86minutes

Max Depth: 5.0m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:

Camera Details: Canon 60mm , SS200 Strobe

Photos: I’ve been reading up on the muck dive sites of south east asia, and its been inspiring me to reconsider all port phillip bay’s muck sites. Blairgowrie is becoming renowned as a worldclass muck dive, and on a good day you can really see why. Todays dive produced a couple of tassled anglers, a velvet fish, pygmy squid, and the usual handful of nudi species. A big smooth ray was also patrolling the area, When you think of all the critters that can be seen here that are on many divers wish-list, it really deserves it reputation.

Dive 342 – Portarlington Pier

By pfuller

Aug

12

Dive Number: 342 12/08/12 ??.??, Portarlington Pier

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: ???

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: 11.2c

Bottom Time:68minutes

Max Depth: 3.4m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:

Camera Details: Canon 60mm , SS200 Strobe

Photos: I had a great dive at Portarlington Pier yesterday i thought i’d dive it again. A nice suite of nudi’s and flatworms around. Plus Pygmy Squid and Ring Pipefish.

Dive 341 – Portarlington Pier

By pfuller

Aug

11

Dive Number: 341 11/08/12 ??.??, Portarlington Pier

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: ???

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: 10.4c

Bottom Time: 67minutes

Max Depth: 3.5m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Lewis in his Shore dives of Victoria book states that Portarlington Pier was the best pier dives in Port Phillip Bay. I’ve always thought he was off his head, but i’m starting to realise where he is coming from. Before Blairgowrie Pier came along (which is a relatively new construction and may not have existed at the time of his publication), portarlington pier is definently muck central..so if muck critters are your thing, this dive would go near the top of your list. The species niche diversity is very similar to Blairgowrie. It always has a good array of nudi’s; Its one of the only place other than blairgowrie that i regularly see Ringed Pipefish; and is a great spot of for seahorses, stinkfish and at night a dead cert for snake eel. Its one of those spots that you never know what you’ll see…an aspect that i dislike about St leonards which seems to be failry predictable(as predictable as the ocean can be).

On this dive, i found a..”thing” that intrigued me. The patterning on it looks like a fabric print, but it is definently organic…even a fractal generator couldn’t come up with such random dimensions in the patterning of the stars/flowers on the skin. The centre of these stars/flowers was raised(not obvious in the photos) like some type of gland. My best guess is this is a bit of a sponge or ascidian, but i certainly haven’t seen anything like this before. Anyone got any ideas??

Camera Details: Canon 60mm , SS200 Strobe

Photos:

Dive 340 – St Leonards Reef

By pfuller

Aug

4

Dive Number: 340 04/08/12 13.11, St Leonards Reef (South)

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: ???

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: 10.8c

Bottom Time: 45minutes

Max Depth: 5.0m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: A second dive on St Leonards Reef. Hyeonji Spotted a large Maori Octopus doing its best to camoflage into the reef. One of the biggest suprises was a cowfish…the first i’ve ever seen around these parts. Another good cirtter was a massive ringed pipefish….almost the size of a snake-eel. Great dive despite the current and ordinary vis.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 339 – St Leonards Reef

By pfuller

Aug

4

Dive Number: 339 04/08/12 10.55, St Leonards Reef (North)

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: ???

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: 10.4c

Bottom Time: 53minutes

Max Depth: 4.0m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: This is a wonderful reef for critters. On decent i spotted an aggregation of about 20 eleven-armed starfish. These critters aren’t the most pleasing to the eye starfish in the world, but there was something special about the way they were grouped out here. They were scavenging like you usually see groups of these stars, so i suspect this was a breeding event. A Lions Made Jelly then sailed past in the current…always a good subject, but difficult in the reasonably strong current and shallows waters.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 338 – Eastern View

By pfuller

Aug

2

Dive Number: 338 02/08/12 14.23, Eastern View

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Surgey with lots of sand in the water

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: 12.0c

Bottom Time: 55minutes

Max Depth: 5.0m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: We decided the second dive would be on the unusual Eastern View reef..a diagonal prominatory out into the middle of an ebayment. The vis was quite bad in the shallows and the surf stirs up the sand in the area. Further out though the scattered boulder reef turns into amazing crayweed forest that controls a bit of the surge movement..though not much. Its a wild feeling dive out here..very sharky, but exhilarating!

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 337 – Sunnymeade Beach

By pfuller

Aug

2

Dive Number: 337 02/08/12 11.20, Sunnymeade Beach – Aireys Inlet

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Great day with low swell on the coast

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: 12.0c

Bottom Time: 76minutes

Max Depth: 10.6m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: It was one of those low swell days that was ideal for diving along the Surfcoast. Original plans was to dive Pt Roadknight Back Beach, but the swell was still too high for this area. We decided on Sunnymeade Beach ear Airey’s Inlet and made the long arduous walk down the stairs with full gear. We walked towards the Eagle’s nest marine park, but it was just too far with full gear and slippery rocks, so we entered before the first point. The area was fairly shallow reef for most of the way out in about 6-7m. The biggest highlight here was a very unexpected Weedy Seadragon. the first record in this area for the species as far as i’m aware. I swum out the back further and out to the east. It was nothing but a sandy flat with little reef in abot 10-11m. This continued for a good 20minutes of swimming, until i reached some great little bommies in about 6-8m. This area was right in the middle of the embayment and was probably the best reef on the dive. The really tough entry and exit is the limiting factor to this area, otherwise i’d love to explore it more.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 336 – Point George

By pfuller

Jul

29

Dive Number: 336 29/07/12 12.41, Point George

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Some offshore current

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 10.8c

Bottom Time: 80minutes

Max Depth: 4.2m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: This was an exploratory dive to see what was around the Point George area. The current was fairly significant pushing me away from shore, so i played it safe and kept in shallow. There’s a nice shallow reef here that might be ok in summer. There was an unusual large mollusc/slug on the sand here, and a Green-lipped Abalone showed off its skirts nicely for a photo.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 335 – Wheel Reef

By pfuller

Jul

28

Dive Number: 335 28/07/12 13.29, Wheel Reef

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: ???

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 10.8c

Bottom Time: 62minutes

Max Depth: 2.9m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: A splash around Wheel Reef…there were wheels. Four types of wheels..it was wheely good. Sorry…these wheels are still a mystery to me. Any got any ideas? Also of note was a Frilled Venus shellfish which i’d never previously seen.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 334 – Cottage by the Sea

By pfuller

Jul

27

Dive Number: 334 27/07/12 12.18, Cottage by the Sea

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Average to OK

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: 12.0c

Bottom Time: 68minutes

Max Depth: 7.3m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Its been aaaages since i’d dived cottage and it was glad to revisit it, despite the less than perfect conditions. Heaps of starfish around, and always good to see a Weedy Seadragon.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 333 – Pt Lonsdale Town Reef

By pfuller

Jul

27

Dive Number: 333 27/07/12 9.55, Point Lonsdale Town Reef

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Strong current running

Visibilty: 7m

Water Temp: 11.6c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 5.1m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: There’s a reef marked on Navionics called Merlens Reef out of Point Lonsdale that i’d been meaning to check out. Conditions weren’t ideal and a strong current was running, so we didn’t make it out to the area that marked a drop off. An interesting dive all the same.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 332 – Blairgowrie Pier

By pfuller

Jul

21

Dive Number: 332 22/07/12 11.40, Blairgowrie Pier

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Some current

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: 11.2c

Bottom Time: 63minutes

Max Depth: 5.3m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: I took the wide-angle over to Blairgowrie this time, to get some situational shots of the Tasselled Angler, rather than macro portraits. Luckily there were a couple of obliging subjects.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 331 – Prince George Bank – Iso Reef

By pfuller

Jul

21

Dive Number: 331 21/07/12 14.59, Prince George Bank – Iso Reef

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: ???

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 10.4c

Bottom Time: 42minutes

Max Depth: 15.0m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: This was the second dive out on Prince George Bank at one of the sticks. Not much life around, but another nice shallow reef that will be great in summer.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 330 – Prince George Light

By pfuller

Jul

21

Dive Number: 330 21/07/12 12.12, Prince George Light

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: ???

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 10.4c

Bottom Time: 61minutes

Max Depth: 6.4m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos: A day of westerlies, so i took the boat out with Hyeonji off St Leonards and explored some sites on Prince George Bank. First stop was Prince George light, and despite the Antarctic-like water temperatures, it was a nice dive. A shallow colourful reef that produced the biggest Cuttlefish i’ve laid eyes on. No cuttlefish were harmed in themaking of these pics…despite what it may look like. ;)

Dive 329 – The Springs

By pfuller

Jul

15

Dive Number: 329 15/07/12 13.14, The Springs

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Surgey, milky conditions

Visibilty: 3m

Water Temp: 12.4c

Bottom Time: 53minutes

Max Depth: 5.9m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Fairly horrible conditions at the Springs today…surgey and very low visibility. Not much fun.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 328 – Marengo, Apollo Bay

By pfuller

Jul

14

Dive Number: 328 14/07/12 15.41, Marengo Apollo Bay

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Flat conditions

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: 13.2c

Bottom Time: 56minutes

Max Depth: 6.6m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Another flat winters day and plenty of sightings being posted of whales along the coast. I headed down past Lorne scouring the coast with binoculars and eventually saw two Southern Right Whales just near Artillery Rocks. They were heading west, and a little way off shore, so i checked the maps and decided to head to Point Sturt off Wye River, as i thought this would be a vantage point they would pass close to. I made a good choice…the two whales coming from the west, met with one whale coming from the east and met up about 60m off Point Sturt. They stayed there for about 1 hour and commanded a large crowd of tourists and locals alike.

After an amazing whale encounter i still felt like a dive, and headed down to Marengo for a quick dip. The shallows were very photogenic, but aprt from a school of zebra fish there was little fish life around.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 327 – Pipeline Bommie

By pfuller

Jul

8

Dive Number: 327 08/07/12 15.20, Pipeline Bommie

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Flat conditions

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: 12.4c

Bottom Time: 46minutes

Max Depth: 19.2m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: It was a great day, but the many search and rescue helicopters looking for the missing diver the day before added a bit of drama to the area, I didn’t want to come across a body so thought i’d drive down to Torquay in the boat and sound around Pt Danger looking for dive sites. I found 1 or 2 dropoffs, but had a ‘grass is greener’ mentality going on, and eventually ended up loosing the good dropoffs i did find. Conditions looked to be getting worse, so i ended up heading back and diving near black rock. I didn’t regret the decision one bit finding a great bommie that housed a family of 7 Port Jackson Sharks. It had some nice sponge growth on it too, and was just the perfect size to circumnavigate. One of the first ‘proper’ dive sites i’ve sounded out that will go on the regular dive list.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 326 – Clay Bed Reef

By pfuller

Jul

7

Dive Number: 326 07/07/12 14.03, Clay Bed Reef

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 11.2c

Bottom Time: 52minutes

Max Depth: 19.3m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: I arrived at the Ocean Grove carpark to find a very muddy looking Barwon River. I headed out through the river mouth and down towards the Canberra. The outflow from the river spread a long way east down to Port Phillip Heads and gave the water a very milky dirty appearance all the way out to the 40m depth contour. Speaking to a newly surfaced diver at the HMAS Canberra, he informed me that the vis was indeed as bad as it looked and it wasn’t worth the effort. So i headed back over the other side of the bluff, which is generally cleaner. On the way i spotted two Southern Right whales that gave close viewing for about 30minutes. It was great to sit out on the ocean and hear them heaving out of the water and splashing there tales. An amazing encounter. I thought i better get in a dive and went exploring off Charlemont reef and sounded out a nice little drop off. The area had large areas of exposed clay with little growth on it. It was very unique to see the substrate so exposed and where the reef joined it created a great habitat for marine life, with lots of fish…especially for this time of year. I’ll definently be revisiting this area again. It was sad to hear on return that i diver went missing on The Coogee during the day…no doubt the bad vis was partly responsible for the incident.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 325 – Blairgowrie Pier

By pfuller

Jul

6

Dive Number: 325 06/07/12 14.49, Blairgowrie Pier

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 10.8c

Bottom Time: 79minutes

Max Depth: 5.6m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: A lovely day out on the bay. A clean smooth surface made for an easy trip over to Blairgowrie. I spent the dive photographying the amazing Tasselled Anglerfish.On the way back i nearly hit some Little Penguins feeding near the surface and some Albatross flew past to check out the action.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 324 – Whites Beach

By pfuller

Jun

28

Dive Number: 324 28/06/12 9.55, Whites Beach

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Rain

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 12.0c

Bottom Time: 79minutes

Max Depth: 7.9m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Some of the BSAC crew came down to try to find Victoria Towers. Unfortunately we weren’t able to locate it, but it was still a nice dive. I found a great little cave, and a mutant 4 armed star.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos: